Carrara v8.5.0.149 (PC/Mac) Beta Update

We are making this build available for $0.00 as a store item CARRARA 8.5.0.149 Beta You can run the production build of Carrara 8.1 side by side with this Beta build. Just don't uninstall 8.1 version when you install this beta release.

The purpose of providing this build is for you to see the progress we are making, see how Genesis looks in Carrara, see the new features we've added and provide input on the changes. You can also see the list of bug fixes below. This list identifies issues that were logged in the bug tracker and highlights many of the other fixes in this build.

New in Carrara 8.5:
1. Support for imported Genesis .dsf files (best used with DAZ Studio 4.0.3.19 or newer installed).
2. Character presets can be applied. Go to the Instance Tab, select the 2nd Genesis listed in the tree or the Actor line, and double click the character from the list. If the one of these items is not selected, an additional figure will be loaded with that character applied.
3. New Parameters Pane and user experience
4. Carrara 8.5 Parameter Pane. If you are familiar with the Parameters Tab (with the Genesis figure) in DAZ Studio 4, the equivalent to Carrara 8.5 is the Parameter Pane which is accessed by selecting the second Genesis from the list.
5. Shaping in Parameters Pane. If you are familiar with the Shaping Tab in DAZ Studio 4, the equivalent for Carrara 8.5 can be accessed by selecting the Actor line from the tree in the Instance Pane.
6. Content Management System or CMS connection to utilize the DAZ Studio database (requires DAZ Studio 4.0.3.19 or newer recommended to be installed). We are looking into a project to install the CMS for Carrara without the need of DAZ Studio. So for the Carrara customers not using DAZ Studio they can still take advantage of the new system. More information will be coming.
7. AutoFit is included in Carrara 8.5
8. Fit To (auto generates Genesis morphs) for Genesis designed clothing
9. Restore Figure tools
10. Memorize tools
11. Zero Figure tools
12. Smart Content Tab (shows all the content with meta data organized similarly to DAZ Studio's Smart Content Tab)
13. New SubD / Smoothing tool (display the smoothing slider of smoothed vertex object in the assemble room)
14. Improved Bullet Physics for soft body simulation
15. aniBlock importer has been updated and fixed for Carrara 8.5
16. Mac OSX Lion support has been implemented
17. Geo grafting has been implemented and we continue to work on this feature
18. New Light Icons to better represent the lights, the controls have also been improved.
19. DUF Files from DAZ Studio are now supported in Carrara 8.5 however, DUF material presets do not always apply textures to the selected figure.

If you are seeing issues please log the bugs in the bug tracker: DAZ BUG Tracker

1. If you get a Duplicate ID error, please reset your download for the content and try reinstalling. If the issue persists please place it in the Content Project of the bugtracker (http://bugs.daz3d.com) as we believe we have fixed all of those.
2. Pz2 material Presets do work on Genesis and Triax Content, to include content that has been auto-fit to Genesis now.
3. PZ2 Poses do apply to Genesis but it is not recommended and if the pose has translations on the feet or hands those will need to be zeroed.
4. DAZ Studio4.0.3.47 minimum, (4.5 RC2 recommended) must be installed prior to running Carrara 8.5 in order to use Genesis or the Smart Content Tab.
5. If new content with meta data is installed, DAZ Studio will need to be started in order to get the smart content into the CMS database.
6. V4/M4/K4 shaders will not work on Genesis and will have to be manually built.
7. Our development team is working on the tools to transfer data from DAZ Studio 4 to Carrara using our new file format.
8. Included Tree presets may not look the same as they did in Carrara 7, we are looking into this currently.
9. Adding IK to genesis works correctly and as expected, Genesis doesn't load with IK. (In either DS or Carrara)
10. Mimic fixes have been implemented for Gen 4 and earlier.
11. Mimic and Mimic Pro for Genesis is fixed and will be made available to those who have purchases this.
12. Plugins for the previous builds of 8.0 are expected to work with this version.
13. The CMS service is not embedded in this installer. You will need to have installed DS 4.0.3+ “with Content” to be able to use that functionality.

To register the Carrara 8.5 Beta you will need to use the serial code listed here: CDZCPRO-085-0000026-BLW-001-EBTOLPQ (Expires August 31st 2012)

About Mimic Pro and this build:
If you own Mimic Pro and want to start using it with Genesis, you'll need to download a build just for Carrara 8.5.0.149. You will NOT want to use this with your 8.1 build of Carrara. It won't work with both builds. However, if you install the new version in a different location, you can continue to have both versions on your machine. The same serial number will continue to work for both builds. The DMC files are also included in this new version of Mimic Pro and will work with Genesis.

To see many of the new features and read the latest news on Carrara 8.5 visit CarraraCafe

Comments

Really, you guys cannot be serious. Unless my memory is WAY off, I recall that the first 8.5 beta was made public over a year ago. Sometime in March a year ago. Actually, that makes it one and a quarter years ago.

Now maybe you guys have developed a new idea for the purpose of betas, but in my world it is NOT to ask your customers to work on checking your bugs for a year and a quarter. It's to make a fairly quick check at the end of development to make sure the software works on multiple platforms and configurations.

And based on the list of big stuff still needs fixing, I'm guessing it has still got a long way to go.

Add to that the fact that Genesis is mostly for DAZ, not the users, in spite of what you want to tell everyone. For those who have no interest in spending more money on new Genesis content, there isn't squat in 8.5, except maybe the new Zero/Memorize/Restore tools which should have been implemented 10 years ago.

I've been as objective and supportive of DAZ as I can be, but seriously, if you want to stay in the software game (which I sincerely doubt) you are really gonna need to step up your game a lot. At this rate, it's gonna be at least another two years before you get a decent, and very basic cloth sim, which other software has been doing for decades.

Really, you guys cannot be serious. Unless my memory is WAY off, I recall that the first 8.5 beta was made public over a year ago. Sometime in March a year ago. Actually, that makes it one and a quarter years ago.

Now maybe you guys have developed a new idea for the purpose of betas, but in my world it is NOT to ask your customers to work on checking your bugs for a year and a quarter. It's to make a fairly quick check at the end of development to make sure the software works on multiple platforms and configurations.

And based on the list of big stuff still needs fixing, I'm guessing it has still got a long way to go.

Add to that the fact that Genesis is mostly for DAZ, not the users, in spite of what you want to tell everyone. For those who have no interest in spending more money on new Genesis content, there isn't squat in 8.5, except maybe the new Zero/Memorize/Restore tools which should have been implemented 10 years ago.

I've been as objective and supportive of DAZ as I can be, but seriously, if you want to stay in the software game (which I sincerely doubt) you are really gonna need to step up your game a lot. At this rate, it's gonna be at least another two years before you get a decent, and very basic cloth sim, which other software has been doing for decades.

Hi Joe, welcome back!
Does this mean you are not happy with this update?
(just a small joke) ;)

Really, you guys cannot be serious. Unless my memory is WAY off, I recall that the first 8.5 beta was made public over a year ago. Sometime in March a year ago. Actually, that makes it one and a quarter years ago.

Now maybe you guys have developed a new idea for the purpose of betas, but in my world it is NOT to ask your customers to work on checking your bugs for a year and a quarter. It's to make a fairly quick check at the end of development to make sure the software works on multiple platforms and configurations.

And based on the list of big stuff still needs fixing, I'm guessing it has still got a long way to go.

Add to that the fact that Genesis is mostly for DAZ, not the users, in spite of what you want to tell everyone. For those who have no interest in spending more money on new Genesis content, there isn't squat in 8.5, except maybe the new Zero/Memorize/Restore tools which should have been implemented 10 years ago.

I've been as objective and supportive of DAZ as I can be, but seriously, if you want to stay in the software game (which I sincerely doubt) you are really gonna need to step up your game a lot. At this rate, it's gonna be at least another two years before you get a decent, and very basic cloth sim, which other software has been doing for decades.

Last March was when the last release build. 8.1.1.12.While the 8.5 development cycle has gone on much longer than we would have liked, it hasn't been quite that long. :)

17. Geo grafting has been implemented and we continue to work on this feature

How and where? Would be great to get an explanation about this implementation and functionality. Also, does this work on genesis only or also on other figures?It works just like it does in DAZ Studio. And, no it is not limited to Genesis. I have seen Faba do some work with Geografting on an original figure. (Though I believe it was rigged in DAZ Studio.)

Edited for clarity:

Geografted parts are applied just like Conforming clothing. With the base figure selected (The one the graft is applied to) double click, or drag and drop from the browser to the figure (either in the assembly room window or the Instance list) and it will apply for you.

I just installed the new beta and I'm not seeing much of a change. The post says:
2. Pz2 material Presets do work on Genesis and Triax Content, to include content that has been auto-fit to Genesis now.
3. PZ2 Poses do apply to Genesis but it is not recommended and if the pose has translations on the feet or hands those will need to be zeroed.
But material presets for the Supersuit (for example) don't show up in the browser. Are they DUF presets. Is that why they don't display. It also says that PZ2 poses do apply, but I can't figure out how to apply them. I've selected the Genesis figure and then tried to import the PZ2 file, but they are greyed out in the dialog box. What am I missing?

Really, you guys cannot be serious. Unless my memory is WAY off, I recall that the first 8.5 beta was made public over a year ago. Sometime in March a year ago. Actually, that makes it one and a quarter years ago.

Just thought I'd let you know we haven't hit the anniversary yet. My oldest download is 26 September, so it was probably available early/mid September when it was first released.

Call me crazy, but I'm glad they're fixing bugs, and 8.5 works better for me than the last 8.1 so I'm happy to use the beta software.

If I click the link it takes me to the store but when I click add to cart nothing happens, the screen flashes and thats it
nothing in the cart

If I go to my account, to itemized order history, try to reset my Carrara 8 Pro purchase and nothing happens, I go to the
downloadable products and is not there neither the 8 Pro version link nor the Beta

Really, you guys cannot be serious. Unless my memory is WAY off, I recall that the first 8.5 beta was made public over a year ago. Sometime in March a year ago. Actually, that makes it one and a quarter years ago.

Now maybe you guys have developed a new idea for the purpose of betas, but in my world it is NOT to ask your customers to work on checking your bugs for a year and a quarter.

Yes, it's a slow development cycle, but I'd rather DAZ took their time and got it right than shipped something half-baked.

And if that means getting customer feedback at every point in the cycle, I'm cool with that too.

I even think that 'beta' may be the appropriate term for it. In my understanding of software development cycles, the terms 'alpha' and 'beta' refer not to level of code completeness, but to distribution: 'alpha' is "internal or partner testing only", and 'beta' is "shipped for testing to a limited range of test sites". Then Netscape shook that whole idea up by introducing the idea of a 'public beta', which I guess is what this is.

I'm eager to see a final version of C8.5 but I'm not going to quibble over the naming of the interim builds. The alternative - shipping beta-quality software and calling it 'final' - seems worse in my eyes.

I just installed the new beta and I'm not seeing much of a change. The post says:
2. Pz2 material Presets do work on Genesis and Triax Content, to include content that has been auto-fit to Genesis now.
3. PZ2 Poses do apply to Genesis but it is not recommended and if the pose has translations on the feet or hands those will need to be zeroed.
But material presets for the Supersuit (for example) don't show up in the browser. Are they DUF presets. Is that why they don't display. It also says that PZ2 poses do apply, but I can't figure out how to apply them. I've selected the Genesis figure and then tried to import the PZ2 file, but they are greyed out in the dialog box. What am I missing?

The Supersuit uses DSA (DAZ Studio Script) presets. Unfortunately only DAZ Studio can read DSA files.
The presets for the Supersuit, in particular, are mostly shaders, which will not work in other render engines, so even if Carrara could read them, they probably wouldn't work.

On the other side of the coin, making Carrara Shaders or using Carrara shaders on the Supersuit can give you some really amazing results. This is especially true of you have Shoestring Shaders, and/or Veloute (included in Advance Pack in the DAZ Store)

For applying a pz2, in Carrara, the easiest way is to, with the item you want to apply the pz2 to selected, and double click the pz2 in the browser.

Thanks for the response. I understand that shaders are different in Studio from Carrara, but it would be really nice if texture maps, bump maps, normal maps, etc were able to load. I recreated the Mr. Hyde textures in Carrara and it took hours to load all the maps. Plus I had to adjust all the channels to get everything to look right. Many of the presets for Supersuit also contain morphs and consolidation of the shading domains (at least it looks that way to me), the seams are grouped into the main body parts sometimes. At least getting those parts into Carrara would save a lot of time.

The PZ2 files that I want to apply are not in runtimes so they don't show up in the browser. They were free on ShareCG. I guess I have to put them in a runtime. create. With M4 and V4 I can apply a PZ2 file by selecting the figure and clicking on Import > Prest (Pose, Material). The import option doesn't show up for Genesis.

Thanks for the response. I understand that shaders are different in Studio from Carrara, but it would be really nice if texture maps, bump maps, normal maps, etc were able to load. I recreated the Mr. Hyde textures in Carrara and it took hours to load all the maps. Plus I had to adjust all the channels to get everything to look right. Many of the presets for Supersuit also contain morphs and consolidation of the shading domains (at least it looks that way to me), the seams are grouped into the main body parts sometimes. At least getting those parts into Carrara would save a lot of time.

The PZ2 files that I want to apply are not in runtimes so they don't show up in the browser. They were free on ShareCG. I guess I have to put them in a runtime. create. With M4 and V4 I can apply a PZ2 file by selecting the figure and clicking on Import > Prest (Pose, Material). The import option doesn't show up for Genesis.

Trust me, I feel your pain. :)

The Morphs, maps etc. will come across, though there is a change to how DS is saving things in a build of DAZ Studio after the current public Beta. This should make the maps come across better from a DUF (custom shaders still can not come across). It is not going to happen from a DSA and as long as custom shaders are not used, it should also work with a PZ2.

With the next public Beta of 4.5 you should be able to resave those dsa as duf and bring them into Carrara and lose at least half of the work.

I do highly recommend the use of Reference Shaders to make the shaders you need to be the same, the same so changing one changes them all, without losing the flexibility of the Supersuit.

Thanks for the response. I understand that shaders are different in Studio from Carrara, but it would be really nice if texture maps, bump maps, normal maps, etc were able to load. I recreated the Mr. Hyde textures in Carrara and it took hours to load all the maps. Plus I had to adjust all the channels to get everything to look right. Many of the presets for Supersuit also contain morphs and consolidation of the shading domains (at least it looks that way to me), the seams are grouped into the main body parts sometimes. At least getting those parts into Carrara would save a lot of time.

The PZ2 files that I want to apply are not in runtimes so they don't show up in the browser. They were free on ShareCG. I guess I have to put them in a runtime. create. With M4 and V4 I can apply a PZ2 file by selecting the figure and clicking on Import > Prest (Pose, Material). The import option doesn't show up for Genesis.

Trust me, I feel your pain. :)

The Morphs, maps etc. will come across, though there is a change to how DS is saving things in a build of DAZ Studio after the current public Beta. This should make the maps come across better from a DUF (custom shaders still can not come across). It is not going to happen from a DSA and as long as custom shaders are not used, it should also work with a PZ2.

With the next public Beta of 4.5 you should be able to resave those dsa as duf and bring them into Carrara and lose at least half of the work.

I do highly recommend the use of Reference Shaders to make the shaders you need to be the same, the same so changing one changes them all, without losing the flexibility of the Supersuit.

Thanks Spooky. I hope you're right about the next beta. Although this does ad an extra step. I don't typically use Studio. I only loaded it for Genesis. Better an extra step than no result at all.

Hmnpf!
Come back to check out the new forums only to find a shiny new C85beta! Thanks Devs! I'm still loving the last one!
I took on some heavy manual labor jobs to bide my time for Daz to iron out their new store so I wouldn't drive everyone nuts with how I felt about the initial launch. It worked. Now I look and like what I see. Bravo!

Hmmm... this is the first time I've loaded up 8.5 in many months, so I don't know if this is an ongoing issue or if it's just something I'm doing wrong...
But I'm trying to save an obj by dragging and dropping it from the Instance Menu to the Objects tab in the browser, and I keep getting an I/O error.
My fault or Carrara's?

Edit: And I've tried different obj's, as well, all with the same result.

Carrara loads the hair, then I get this message "Projecting Morphs" and in the 10 minutes I've sat here, it's only at 16%!!!!

Is this "working as designed"? I've never seen tis message before and it seems a bit extreme to take this long to load a simple hair. I know my wheezy dual-core T4400 at 2.3GHz isn't a screamer, but DS4.5 and PPro 2010 both load this in seconds.

Is this bug-report-worthy material?

Also, some UI feedback during morph INJ/REM would be nice as I spent several minutes clicking an INJ without any feedback or indication Carrara had heard me.

... Carrara loads the hair, then I get this message "Projecting Morphs" and in the 10 minutes I've sat here, it's only at 16%!!!! ... Is this bug-report-worthy material?

Report it. It may not be a show-stopper, but it's certainly an irritation, so it's something the developers should know about. (Of course, if 'Projecting Morphs' never finishes then it is a show-stopper, so they should definitely hear about it).

Make sure that you write it up in detail so that they can reproduce the problem. I've always been taught to write bug reports in four parts as:

... some UI feedback during morph INJ/REM would be nice as I spent several minutes clicking an INJ without any feedback or indication Carrara had heard me.

Carrara's not great on giving feedback. There are a bunch of operations - applying a MAT pose, for example - where it stops responding for an indefinite amount of time, with nothing to indicate that anything's happening. It's an aspect of Carrara that the developers could usefully do some work on.

... Carrara loads the hair, then I get this message "Projecting Morphs" and in the 10 minutes I've sat here, it's only at 16%!!!! ... Is this bug-report-worthy material?

Report it. It may not be a show-stopper, but it's certainly an irritation, so it's something the developers should know about. (Of course, if 'Projecting Morphs' never finishes then it is a show-stopper, so they should definitely hear about it).

Make sure that you write it up in detail so that they can reproduce the problem. I've always been taught to write bug reports in four parts as:

... some UI feedback during morph INJ/REM would be nice as I spent several minutes clicking an INJ without any feedback or indication Carrara had heard me.

Carrara's not great on giving feedback. There are a bunch of operations - applying a MAT pose, for example - where it stops responding for an indefinite amount of time, with nothing to indicate that anything's happening. It's an aspect of Carrara that the developers could usefully do some work on.

It did finish after about 18 minutes of waiting, urgh. I'm off to report it after this post!

Glad to see it's not just me that thinks some UI feedback would be nice! Even a silly spinning cursor would work.

It's working fine for me here.
single objects or groups and animated groups, working as expected..

Anything unusual about your Objects folders. ?

Anything you drag'n'drop from the instance list into the Browser (objects) tab Folders, should be getting saved as a .Car file.

Can the objects be exported as a .Car file on it's own. ?

Thanks...
I could save objects modeled in Carrara without trouble, but importing anything prevented me from saving it.
After uninstalling Carrara and reinstalling, it's working normally again. Those same imported objects are now saved without a hassle.
Something funky was going on there.

I've never used (or bought) Carrara before, but I'm impressed with what I've seen of it. Two questions:
1. Does this beta require that you have a previous (purchased) version of Carrara installed?
2. Is it intended only for those who have previously purchased Carrara?

1./ The beta should be installed into a New and Separate folder from any other version of Carrara,.(if you have one installed) but it's not dependent on having Carrara installed previously.

If you want to,. you can also download the 30 day Trial version of Carrara 8 from www.downloads.com. and compare the old with the new.

2./ Yes, the Beta is being provided for "testing" purposes,. so ideally having some experience of the way Carrara works would be helpful in spotting any issues in the current beta version,. However.. new features, are new features to everyone, so all input is welcomed,

... Carrara loads the hair, then I get this message "Projecting Morphs" and in the 10 minutes I've sat here, it's only at 16%!!!! ... Is this bug-report-worthy material?

Report it. It may not be a show-stopper, but it's certainly an irritation, so it's something the developers should know about. (Of course, if 'Projecting Morphs' never finishes then it is a show-stopper, so they should definitely hear about it).

Make sure that you write it up in detail so that they can reproduce the problem. I've always been taught to write bug reports in four parts as:

... some UI feedback during morph INJ/REM would be nice as I spent several minutes clicking an INJ without any feedback or indication Carrara had heard me.

Carrara's not great on giving feedback. There are a bunch of operations - applying a MAT pose, for example - where it stops responding for an indefinite amount of time, with nothing to indicate that anything's happening. It's an aspect of Carrara that the developers could usefully do some work on.

It did finish after about 18 minutes of waiting, urgh. I'm off to report it after this post!

Glad to see it's not just me that thinks some UI feedback would be nice! Even a silly spinning cursor would work.